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Driving a Sustainable Conflict Minerals Compliance Strategy

The apparel and footwear industries need to adopt an efficient approach to address the SEC’s conflict minerals requirements

In recent years, the focus on conflict minerals has intensified, especially in light of the enforcement of the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) conflict minerals rule, mandated by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. This requires all public companies to disclose by May 31, 2014 whether any 3TG minerals (tantalum, tin, tungsten or gold) used in their products have originated from the Democratic Republic of Congo or its adjoining regions.

Determining the source of 3TG minerals in products is no easy task. Vast global supply chains, which comprise an intricate hierarchy of suppliers and distributors complicate many organization’s conflict minerals efforts, especially as it relates to conducting Reasonable Country of Origin Inquiries (RCOI), adopting efficient due-diligence programs, preparing a Conflict Minerals Report (CMR), and organizing an independent third-party audit of the CMR.

The retail, apparel and footwear industries fall under the purview of the conflict minerals rule. Typically, companies in this sector use only small traces of 3TG minerals in their products, but the rule does not exempt these companies from compliance enforcement. Therefore, all apparel and footwear companies will require a sustainable, robust, and effective course of action, which includes increased collaboration with their suppliers, and a detailed plan to ensure their conflict minerals report is filed in line with the specified criteria and timelines.

MetricStream, in association with the American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA) brings you this webinar, featuring guest speakers Michael Littenberg, Partner at Schulte Roth & Zabel, and Keri Dawson, Vice President of ComplianceOnline Advisory Services at MetricStream. Topics for discussion include critical action items required to ensure compliance with the SEC’s conflict minerals rule.

Additional points for discussion include:

Understanding the strategies, approaches, solutions and services required for a successful conflict minerals compliance program

Determining the extent of the regulatory obligation, including an analysis of your suppliers and products

Attend this webinar:
This webinar is scheduled to take place on Thursday, July 25th, 2013 at 11:00 am Pacific Time. To register for this webinar, and to learn more about the webinar and the speakers, please click here.

About MetricStream

MetricStream is the independent market leader in enterprise cloud applications for governance, risk, compliance (GRC), and quality management. MetricStream apps and software solutions improve business performance by strengthening risk management, corporate governance, regulatory compliance, audit management, vendor governance, and quality management for organizations across industries, including banking and financial services, health care, life sciences, energy and utilities, consumer brands, government, technology, and manufacturing. MetricStream is headquartered in Palo Alto, California, with an operations and GRC innovation center in Bengaluru, India, and sales and operations support in 12 other cities globally.(www.metricstream.com).